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For the second time this season, the Stetson Hatters and Lipscomb Bison went toe-to-toe into overtime, and for the second time, the Hatters came up short at the end, dropping a 99-91 decision to Lipscomb on Saturday afternoon at the Edmunds Center.

The Bisons’ Deonte Alexander took up the slack for dismissed team-leader Jordan Burgason by scoring a career high 27 points, including 10 in the overtime period.

The loss dropped the Hatters to 8-17 on the year and to 5-9 in Atlantic Sun Conference play. Stetson has now lost eight of its last nine games and is clinging to the eighth, and final, spot in the A-Sun Tournament.

Lipscomb improved to 12-13 overall and 7-6 in league play with the win. The Bison have registered their two highest scoring games of the year in the two overtime wins over Stets.

Adam Pegg led the Hatters with 18 points. He was one of four hatters in double figures on the day. Willie Green tied his career high by scoring 17 in the game.

Stetson had a chance to win, and then lose, the game in regulation before getting outscored 25-17 in the overtime period. Green hit a pair of free throws with six seconds left in regulation to put Stetson up 74-72, but the Hatters were unable to stop Damarius Smith from driving the length of the floor for a game-tying layup.

The game could have ended there but Smith, who hit the game-winning three-pointer in the first meeting, missed what would have been another game-winner, this time from the free-throw line.

The Bison started the overtime with an 11-4 run to take command. Stetson closed the gap to 89-84 with 1:04 left in OT when Pegg made three-of-four free throws following a Marvin Williams foul and technical. That was as close as Stetson would get.

Lipscomb led the game by six, 43-37, at halftime. Williams had 14 points and six rebounds, including five on the offensive end in the half. He finished with a career high 16 points. Smith also had a career high in points, finishing with 14.

Stetson had a total of 21 turnovers, which led to 21 points for Lipscomb

“We are just not a good ball-handling team, and that tends to show itself more when you are not engaged in what’s going on,” Hatters coach Casey Alexander said. “We were not ready to play and we did not play hard enough to win. That’s my fault.”

There were 14 lead changes and 11 ties in the game, but there was never any real rhythm because of the total of 54 fouls that were called. The Hatters were called for a season-high 31 while Lipscomb was whistled for 23. Stetson had three players foul out, while the Bison had two.

Joel Naburgs added 16 points in the game for Stetson while Chris Perez had career high 11 rebounds. Aaron Graham was the fourth Hatter in double figures, scoring 11 points before fouling out late in regulation.

The Hatters will play their final home game of the season on Monday night when they host Belmont. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start. It will be senior night for Stetson’s only senior, Jermol Paul.